ASEAN to Discuss Myanmar Despite Policy

VIJAY JOSHI

Published 8:00 pm, Saturday, June 14, 2003

Associated Press Writer

Asian foreign ministers agreed to discuss Myanmar's detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at a regional summit this week, a departure from their policy of non-interference in each other's internal affairs.

The announcement Sunday by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations reflected the growing international pressure on Myanmar's military regime to release the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

The 10 ASEAN members _ including Myanmar _ will issue a statement Tuesday to "express their common view on the subject," ASEAN spokesman M.C. Abad Jr. said.

"Notwithstanding its domestic nature, Myanmar has agreed to an ASEAN discussion on recent political developments in that country," Abad told reporters Sunday.

ASEAN foreign ministers meet Monday and Tuesday, officially to enhance economic cooperation. They will join their Asian and Western counterparts, including U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, at a 23-member Asian-Pacific regional security meeting Wednesday and Thursday.

The ASEAN talks also will focus on terrorism, an issue highlighted by the arrest of eight suspected Islamic extremists in recent weeks in Cambodia and neighboring Thailand.

The men were accused of being members of Jemaah Islamiyah. The regional hardline Islamic network is blamed for the Oct. 12 bombings that killed 202 people on the Indonesian resort island of Bali. Four suspects were allegedly plotting attacks on embassies in Bangkok.

"Active cooperation against international terrorism contribute greatly to regional security and stability," Hor Namhong, who will chair the ASEAN Regional Forum, said in a statement Sunday.

Powell, who will voice U.S. concerns about the spread of Islamic extremism in South Asia, will also use the meeting in Phnom Penh to muster support to help defuse the standoff over North Korea's suspected nuclear weapons programs.

Tensions in the region have been mounting since October, when U.S. officials said North Korea admitted having a covert nuclear program, and ASEAN ministers want assurances that war will not break out.

They had hoped North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun would attend the meeting, saying his high-level presence would add weight to discussions, but the North's delegation will instead be led by diplomat Ho Jong.

North Korea last week threatened to develop a nuclear arsenal to deter U.S. hostility, but Powell gave assurances in an interview with The Associated Press that Washington "will not be frightened into taking action that would not be appropriate."

ASEAN has long followed a policy of not commenting on its members internal affairs _ but the international outcry over Suu Kyi's detention apparently pushed it to bend the rule.

Suu Kyi was arrested May 30 after her supporters clashed with a pro-democracy crowd in northern Myanmar while she was on a political tour. Opposition groups say the Myanmar junta orchestrated the clash, worried by the increasing number of crowds she was drawing during her tours of the countryside. She has been kept incommunicado since her arrest.